Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-04-21
THE NORTHWEST
ROADS.

of land one of the most important elements
is the character of the roads that connect il
with the rest of the world.
The importance of good roads is only
equaled by the simplicity of the principles
that underlie their economical construction
The first of them is, that the bed of the road
shall be kept dry at all seasons of the year,
no matter of what material it may have been
constructed.
There are many things to be considered in
constructing good road, but if the prime
element of thorough drainage be neglected,
the result will surely be to a greater or less
extent failure.
Freezing and thawing are among the great
est means of destroying the hardness and
smoothness of road-bed. Yet the difficult
ties are entirely overcome by keeping the
road-bed dry, as without moisture, they can
have no effect. The whole science then of
artificial road making consists in making a
solid dry path of the natural soil. Roads are
improved by covering them with hard,
smooth and durable waterproof coating.
This coating may consist of pavement of
solid stone, wooden blocks, bricks, broken
stone, gravel, asphalt or any other material
which will make hard, smooth and water
proof covering to the earthen foundation.
But these will prove expensive failures unless
the natural earth upon which they rest is
kept dry by undertaking, as it is we'll
known that the water which comes up from
below is what most Injuries the road. Even a
roof built over the roadway will fail to secure
hard and smooth road if the water is not
prevented from rising from the soil below.
How can this dry and smooth road-bed be
secured? II can only be done by thorough
underground drainage. Some engineers use
tile placed under the center of the road.
This answers very good purpose. Others
prefer line of tile on each side of the track
few feet distant from the center. Suppose
the bitches are 30 feet apart and the graded
road-bed 16 feet wide, then a tile placed 8
feet from the center line and one foot below
the bottom of the ditch on both sides, will
draw the water from the bitches and from un-
der the road-bed also, and will thus secure
solid foundation if the tile are laid to good
grade and carried to good outlet. A three
inch tile will usually be large enough. The
side bitches should be so graded that when
kept open they will carry away the surface
water and not act as receptacles to hold the
water until it has either evaporated or soaked
into the foundation of the road, as is the case
rrovara1Ix- not axoavtsy,ry tha tI1rx
pixies. The writer has seen water standing
two feet deep in the bitches of one of the new
turnpikes for a distance of more than 100
yards. This shows great want of knowledge
of the elementary principles of road con-
struction or something worse.
The true principle is, then, to grade your
road on drained bed, and keep it rounded
pin the center by frequent attention. A
man should be employed for every five or six
miles, whose business it should be to go over
the road often enough to fill up all places that
would contain water, and to keep open the
side bitches SO that no water would be al
lowed to stand by the road side. You will
then have road at small expense that will be
in fair condition at all times. A fine exam
pie of how not to build a road may be found
in the piece of road that connects Perry street
and the depot in this place. The road-bed
is graded up several feet high with earth taken
out of the bitches which are very deep and
which have no outlet. Then am told (for I
have not seen the material of which it is con-
structed,) that it is covered with broken stone
brought from another county at great expense,
then in order to make sure that the water
that falls on it shall not get away until it has
done all the harm it can, planks are set edge
wise at the side of the stone and as the road
bed is fiat, this retains the water on the road
making thin slush. thus securing the wear
ing out of the stone in the shortest possible
time. The plan shows great originality.
Is there any stone or gravel in this county
suitable for road building? The writer has
not seen any as yet. The turnpikes already
are covered with material that is largely
composed of clay, sand, fine soap stone or
slate gravel and small portion of hard gravel
AS clay is nothing but ground up rock as may
be seen at the abandoned gas well in this
place, where the sand pump was emptied.
tits as tough as any clay in the county. The
sand and soft gravel will soon grind up into
dust, which when it becomes wet will aid in
grinding up the small portion of hard gravel,
so it seems impossible that the road should
be durable in any profitable sense. Itmakes
a very pleasant road for very few years,
then unless renewed at great expense it will
inevitably return to its natural condition of
an undrained mud road.
The cost of repairs made in any one year
on five miles of mud road and which does in
no sense improve the road, would make
mile or more of road in the manner indicat-
ed above, and in few years all the roads of
this muddy county could be put into very
good condition when the road tax would
keep them in good order. The best material
for road building to be had in the county is
hard burned brick. This when properly laid
is very durable, and not more expensive than
stone brought from points outside of the
county A track eight feet wide could be con-
structed az an expense not greatly exceeding
the gravel roads already constructed, and
would not cost but little for repairs and